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Pixel people are robbing pharmacies...
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 6:11 am
by KD5NRH
Is there even the slightest possibility that the picture could be useful in any way? What's the point of having a camera that bad?
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/story/755699.html
Police release video, photos of pharmacy robber
By DOMINGO RAMIREZ JR.
ramirez@star-telegram.com
Three police departments appealed for help Friday to identify an armed robber who has targeted pharmacies since March, handing clerks notes for a variety of drugs.
Investigators say they believe the same bandit has hit four pharmacies in Flower Mound, Lewisville and Highland Village, the most recent happening Thursday night right across from the Flower Mound police station.
On Friday, police released photographs of the robber in the Lewisville holdup and video from the Highland Village robbery.
The pharmacies that have been robbed are:
March 12: Flower Mound Pharmacy, 1001 Farm Market Road 1171, Flower Mound. 11 a.m.
May 21: Walgreens, 1103 W. Farm Market Road 3040, Lewisville. 9:40 a.m.
June 29: Walgreens, 2360 Justin Road, Highland Village. 1:49 p.m.
Thursday night: Walgreens, 1101 Farm Market Road 1171, Flower Mound. 7:34 p.m.
Witnesses described the bandit as a white man in his mid-20s, 5-foot-9, 175 pounds, with short brown hair and wire-framed rectangular glasses. He wore a camouflage baseball hat and jacket as well as red-and-white cloth gloves and grayish-brown pants.
Investigators said that the bandit has handed each clerk a note stating that he had a gun and not to call police. The robber has partially pulled the handgun out of his jacket to show the clerk. The notes have also demanded a variety of drugs, police said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Flower Mound Police Anonymous Crime Tip Line at 972-874-3307.
DOMINGO RAMIREZ JR., 817-685-3822
Re: Pixel people are robbing pharmacies...
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 6:52 am
by BigDan
Sounds like it's time to install these in pharmacies there!
http://www.stealthvue.com/
Found that on Gizmodo a few weeks ago and had to do a fancy Google search to find it again.
Would you rather have this image Overhead Security Camera
... Or This Image Counter Level Upwards Shooting Camera
Re: Pixel people are robbing pharmacies...
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 8:10 am
by bigolbigun
Awesome idea I wish I would have thought of that.
Re: Pixel people are robbing pharmacies...
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 8:30 am
by flintknapper
Pixel people are robbing pharmacies...
I wouldn't worry about it too much. Eventually they will run into "HemiZygote" and he'll take care of it.
Re: Pixel people are robbing pharmacies...
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 8:32 am
by Greybeard
"What's the point of having a camera that bad?"
At least it provides a general description of who to be on the lookout for ... It's not like most folks around here wear a jacket in high 90's of July ...
I live in the midst of those Walgreen stores - and use 2 of them semi-frequently. My son has worked part time in the photo lab at the store in Highland Village, so this is reeeeeel close to home. Looks like the guy may be getting his "fix" for a few weeks each time ...
Re: Pixel people are robbing pharmacies...
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 10:05 am
by WildBill
Pixel people are robbing pharmacies...
Too bad you just can't erase them.
Re: Pixel people are robbing pharmacies...
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 11:02 am
by KD5NRH
Greybeard wrote:"What's the point of having a camera that bad?"
At least it provides a general description of who to be on the lookout for ... It's not like most folks around here wear a jacket in high 90's of July ...
And I doubt he was still wearing it by the time anybody started looking for him.
Also, the description I'd imply from that shot is more like late 40s or older, 185-200lbs, no guess as to hair color, maybe a mustache - nothing like the description given.
Re: Pixel people are robbing pharmacies...
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 12:38 pm
by Skiprr
flintknapper wrote:Pixel people are robbing pharmacies...
I wouldn't worry about it too much. Eventually they will run into "HemiZygote" and he'll take care of it.
Now now...
I like that StealthVue thing. A store could keep the cheap overhead cameras and augment them with that counter-top view. The "pixel-people" longer-range view would be much more useful if you had a clean picture of the BG(s) that got close to the register.
Re: Pixel people are robbing pharmacies...
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 12:46 pm
by ScubaSigGuy
flintknapper wrote:Pixel people are robbing pharmacies...
I wouldn't worry about it too much. Eventually they will run into "HemiZygote" and he'll take care of it.
I was thinking it, but I can't believe you said it flint. Thanks for the laugh!
Re: Pixel people are robbing pharmacies...
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 2:50 pm
by killerfly128
Re: Pixel people are robbing pharmacies...
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 3:18 pm
by Excaliber
What's the point of having a camera that bad?
In many cases, the camera is not at fault. Video storage systems do not capture all of the information gathered by the camera. That's why the pictures on a live monitor often look way better than retrieved recordings.
Video recorders use various compression algorithms to reduce the volume of the data required to store an image by dropping "unnecessary" pixels. A much bigger issue comes from CCTV system design decisions that reduce the resolution (image sharpness and detail) and the number of frames (images) captured to reduce the amount of costly storage space required to archive the images. Low fps (frames per second) settings are responsible for the "jerky" movements on recorded video where it appears a person jumps from spot to spot without moving through the space in between. Setting a system to record fewer numbers of frames per second at lower resolution means you can fit more recording time onto a smaller (and cheaper) hard drive. Good if you're the client company's accountant - bad if you're an incident investigator.
You might ask what the point of installing a system at all might be when the resulting images are so poor they are nearly useless for identification. That's a real good question to ask the folks who made the decisions on how those video systems were configured. A lot of folks are happy just to be able to say they have one, or they think cameras prevent robberies (not thinking to deeply about the fact that you can see camera recorded robberies every day on the news.).
Re: Pixel people are robbing pharmacies...
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 3:37 pm
by Liberty
This is what hapens when insurance companies insist on surveillance camera systems and the bean counters decide what system needs to be installed.
Re: Pixel people are robbing pharmacies...
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 4:33 pm
by BigDan
Also, if there are splitters involved, it's recording 4 different cameras onto the same space. When you try and focus on the one mini-screen, you're losing ¼ of your available resolution (is that accurate?).
Re: Pixel people are robbing pharmacies...
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 4:39 pm
by Bart
If the pixel people were spotted in Boston they would shut down the city.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/200 ... ston_x.htm
Re: Pixel people are robbing pharmacies...
Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 1:08 am
by KBCraig
Bart wrote:If the pixel people were spotted in Boston they would shut down the city.
My daughter just brought home a Gir hoodie. I scored rep points by knowing who it was.
